Drying press



April 10, 1928. 1,665,403 A. w. CAPS.

DRYING PRESS Filed April 20, 1925 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 19,1923.

UNITE STATES PArsrr ARTHUR W. CAPS, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR,BY.MES1\ E ASSIGNMENTS, TO PHOTOSTAT CORPORATION, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODEISLAND, A CORPORATION OF RHODE ISLAND.

DRYING PRESS.

Application filed April 20, 1925.

This invention relates to drying presses, and while it is applicable tonumerous uses, it is primarily intended as a press for dryingphotographic prints and the like.

The invention contemplates a structure in which a heated base or tableis employed to receive the prints, these being held in clamped positionby a platen or clamping board adapted to be pressed down upon the printsby a quick action mechanism whereby the platen may be quickly raised outof clamping position when necessary, a screw mechanism being effectiveto adjust the platen for height or width of opening so that a slightturn of the screw will adjust the platen to any number of photographicprints, and thereafter remain constant for a given number of prints,thereby greatly facilitating the action when av certain number of printsare to be dried each time.

The novel construction of the invention will be specifically describedhereinafter, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in whichFig. 1 is a perspective view of a drying press constructed in accordancewith my invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view through the same.

Fig. 3 is a bottom view of the press.

Fig. 1 is a sectional view on the line et4 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. '5 is a perspective view of the lever connections of the quickoperating mechanism.

The base 1 may consist of any suitable material adapted to hold andretain heat and it may be heated by an appropriate heater genericallydesignated as 2, and shown as an electric heater receiving current froma suitable. source of supply through the conductor 3 controlled by theswitch 4.

Upon the base 2 are four posts 5, 6, 7, and 8, connected at their upperends by a longitudinal beam or bar 9 having a longitudinal slot 10. Atone end of the slot are upstanding ears 11 and 12 between which ispivoted an elbow lever 13 having a bifurcated short arm 14: and arelatively long manually operated arm 15. The short arm 1 1 of the lever13 extends through the slot 10, and received in the bifurcated portionthereof is a crescent shaped link 16 having one pivot 17 connecting itto the short arm 14 and Serial No. 24,691.

another pivot 18 connecting it to a lever 19, the lever 13 being of thefirst order and the lever 19 of the second order. The lever 19preferably comprises two members connectc to the respective sides of thelink 16. These two members are pivoted to an ear 20 de pending from thebar 9. Between the members 19-19 is pivoted the head 21 of a screw 22which is en aged by the screw threaded sleeve 28 ro'tata ly fastened tothe platen 24.- by a loose connection 25 in a manner common to theso-calledletter press, that is, by a. grooved head 26 received in thesocket 27, the groove being engaged by plates 28 fast to the platen 21-.This construction is very common, however. The sleeve 23 carries a handwheel 29, by means of whicn the sleeve 28 can be turned on the screw 22and thereby act as a ack to adj ust the platen 2 1 to a given opening.

The purpose of providing the crescent shaped link as the connectionbetween the lever13 and the lever 19 is to provide means whereby thepivot 18 will be past dead center or offset with respect to the pivot 17when the handle arm 15 of the lever 13 is in position to efiectclamping, thereby preventing the upward pressure against the lever 19from destroying the clamping effect of the lever mechanism consisting ofthe members 13,16 and 19. This will be clearly understood by referenceto the accompany ing drawings.

When the parts are assembled and it is desired to introduce prints ontothe fixed platen or table 1, the lever arm 15 will be swung to theposition shown in Fig. 1 elevating the end of the lever 19 which isfastened to the link 16. The link can raise with the lever 13 becausethe slot 10 has been provided to prevent obstruction by the bar 9. e

In Figure 2 the handle 15 is illustrated as partly raised. \Vhen it isdown against the beam 9 the pivot 17 will be slightly to the right of aline drawn through the center of pivots 13 and 18 so that the togglewill be made and lock the platen in pressing posi-' tion. hen the handleis swung to the position shown in Figure 1 toopen the press, the curvedlink 16 rests around the hub of the hand lever 15 so as to bring thethree pivots 13, 17 and 18 almost in line as in the pressing positionexcept that pivot 17 is now above pivot 13. It should be understood thatthe pivot 17 does not move altogether in line, but suificient to almostneutralize the toggle efi'ect so that the platen is held up when thehandle is raised.

\Vhen the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 1, it is apparent thata suflicient space will exist between the platens land 24: to introducean adequate number of prints or sheets between the platensl and 24, thenthe wheel 29 will be turned to move the platen toward the sheets. Thisposition will be determined by lowering the handle 15 to determinewhether the platen clamps against the sheets tightly, and if not,raisingthe handle and again adjusting the wheel 29, it'being apparentthat for a given number of prints each time it isonly necessary tooperate the handle, and that the operation is quick and very powerful,In order to remove the sheets it will be necessary only to swing the arm15 up to the position shown in Fig. 1

again. It will therefore be apparent that I' have provided a quickaction means for eitiecting the initial compression and a slow actionmeans for positioning the platen prior to compression, the first being arelatively coarse adjustment and the second a fine adjustment, and itwill be. apparent of course that the heater which may be of anyappropriate construction, may be controlled through the switch l.Attention is further called to the fact that the quick action mechanismincludes a toggle arrangement which is not only quick in application butvery powerful in action. i

What I claim and desireto secure by Letters-Patent is 1. A drying presscomprising a baseproviding a fixed platen, vertical rods on the base,abar connecting the rods, a movable platen guided by the rods, anelbowlever pivoted to the bar and having an arm extending above the bar,a lever pivoted atone end to a part beneath the bar, a crescent shapedlink connecting the first lever to the second, a screw nonrotatablycarried by the second lever and a rotatable sleeve carried by-themovable platen and having threaded connection with the screw.

2. A drying press comprising a base providing a fixed platen, verticalrods" on the base, a bar connecting the rods, a movable platen guided bythe rods, an elbow lever pivoted to the bar and having an arm extendingabove the bar, a lever pivoted at one end to a part beneath the bar, alink connecting the first lever to the second, a screw pivot connectingthe link and the operating lever being adapted to cross a vertical linepassing through the center of the pivots connecting the link to thefirst 'lever. and the pivot connecting the operating lever to the barwhen the operating lever is movedbetweenits extreme positions. i

4. X drying press comprising a fixed platen, a bar above the fixedplaten, a toggle lever mechanism connected to the bar, a lever of thesecond order above the fixed platen, pivoted at one end to the underside of the bar and at the other to the toggle mechanism, a screwcarried by the lever attached thereto at an intermediate point, athreaded member on the screw, a movable platen loosely connected to thethreaded member and meansfor turning the threaded member. j i a Intestimonywhereof I aflix my signature.

ARTHUR w. cars;

